Dental-floss holder.



A. w. POWELL.

DENTAL FLOSS HOLDER. APPLICATION FILED JAN-24.1916.

Patented Apr. 3, 1917.

treme ends of the ARTHUR W. POWELL, OF TAYLORVILLE, ILLINOIS.

DENTAL-FLOSS HOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 3, 1917.

Application filed. January 24, 1916. Serial No. 73,767.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR a. citizen of the United States, residing inTaylorville, in the county of Christian and State of Illinois, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Dental-Floss Holders, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to dental-floss holders, and has for its objectto provide a device of this character which shall be eX- treniely simplein construction, which will enable the floss to be secured in positionfor use with great facility, which will reliably hold the floss in suchposition, and which device may be readily sterilized. With the aboveobjects in view the inven-' tion resides in a dental-floss holder havinga handle portion and a two-prong holder, each prong having secured onits outer end a section of coiled spring-wire, the coils whereof are incontact, except at the exprongs, and free to separate to permit theentrance between them of the dental-floss.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which--Figure 1 is a view in front elevation of my improved device, and showinga piece W. POWELL,

,of dental-floss secured thereon in position for use;

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation thereof; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the upper end portionof one of the prongs showing the manner of mounting the coiled springthereon.

Referring now to the drawing, my improved holder is made by bending asingle lengthof wire upon itself to form a handle portion 1, then,coiling the two legs of the wire together, as indicated at 2, to givepermanency-to the form of the handle. then branching the wiresoutwardly, as indicated at 3, and then bending the wires inward to formthe prongs a, which have a slightly diverging relation to each other.coaXia-lly-on the end of each prong is a length of coiled spring-wire 5which embraces the end of the prong and is secured at its outer end tothe tip of the prong by brazing or soldering, as indicated at 6. Thebody of the coil below the tip of the prong is free to slide upon theprong to permit the coils to separate.

Mounted In operation the end portionof a length of dental-floss isinserted between two convolutions of the coil, and is wound once ortwice about the prong, each turn causing the loss to pass the coil. Thefloss is then carried over to the opposite coil and at the same timegiven two or more turns about the end of such prong, the floss in thismovement, as in the case of the first prong, passing between theconvolutions of the coiled spring-wire, after which it is separated fromthe main length or body of the floss. As shown by Fig. 1, the floss willextend between the two prongs and will be secured at opposite endsbetween the coils thereon. The floss will also be held sufficiently tautby the spring character of the prongs, which are slightly pressedtogether in winding the floss between the coils, and when released willspring apart, thereby drawing the floss taut. As shown by Fig. 2, the.prongs are slightly curved in the direction of their length, that is,later-' ally with respect to their common plane, and this curvaturefacilitates the use of the device in inserting the floss in the spacebetween the teeth at the back of the month. In using the device theoperator, either the person whose teeth are to be cleaned, or anotherperson, such as a dentist, holding the device by the handle portion andplacing it in the mouth, forces the dental-floss between the'teeth, andthen by moving the device back and forth in the usual manner causes thefloss to remove any substance which mav have become lodged in the spacesbetween the teeth.

I claim:

l. A dental-floss holder comprising a handle portion and two prongs.each prong having a length of a coil of spring-wire mounted thereon andsecured at its outer end to the tip only of the prong.

2. A,,dental-floss holder comprising a single length of wire bent andcoiled upon itself to form a handleportion and two prongs, and asection-of coiled spring-wire surrounding the end portion of each prongand secured at its outer end to the tip only of the prong.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

ARTHUR W. POWELL.

